Rural Relations and the Crosbyton Review

Our small town newspaper may have been the last of its kind. A main stay in the community, they not only circulated a weekly, rural chronicle, but their front office also sold Big Chief tablets, mod stationery, and mimeograph paper to the local populace. More than a mere publishing company, the Crosbyton Review was a reflection of our region’s three-thousand-residents …

All I Really Needed to Know, I Learned in Second-Grade

  They say that all you really need to know, you learn in kindergarten. Well, I didn’t go to kindergarten. And since I’m a slow learner, I didn’t get the important stuff till second-grade. And there I learned that you should share everything.   (Except maybe for saliva.)   This was pretty apparent because Mrs. Crouch had stressed this from …

Charles Dickens and Sleepovers

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.” I’m speaking of course about childhood slumber parties. This was indeed the best of times. In our small town, slumber parties were usually celebrating …

Tutti’s Panties

“Dear Diary,  Today, I lost Tutti’s panties.” Possibly, for you, losing a doll’s underwear may not be a traumatic event, but to this seven-year-old, it proved journal worthy. Now, a second-grade diary is filled with the ups and downs of daily life. The birth of kittens. A fish fry with friends. A spelling bee at school. The backfired plot to frighten …

Back in the U.S.Aye

“Table for two?”   Martha and I nodded. I was home from Asia and looking forward to lunch with my high school friend.   Surveying the restaurant, I was reminded that I was back in America. No plastic sushi on display, no Chinese characters explaining the day’s specials and no ducks hanging by their roasted necks. The only roasted necks …